With Toys R Us in trouble, Amazon steps into the Christmas toy catalog void

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As embattled toy store of our childhoods Toys R Us rebrands as the gutted store-within-a-store Geoffrey's Toy Box, the holiday season has begun pointing out just what customers will be missing out on now that the giant has fallen — and who might be there to pick up the slack.

Amazon, which has been teasing a potential holiday toy catalog since the summer, confirmed to The Verge that it would be mailing out its own take on the minimalist toy encyclopedia this year. A Holiday of Play, the title of the catalog, will be sent to millions of homes and feature scannable QR codes for maximum impulse-buying efficiency.

You can take a look at this season's catalog here, which features everything from Harry Potter LEGO sets to a 12-pack of Avengers action figures — all filling the simple, white, 60-plus pages. But it won't be the same until you feel the hefty tome in your hands.

While SYFY WIRE will have its own gift guide, there’s something nostalgic about leafing through a toy catalog, marker in hand, as the weather gets nippy and the cocoa heats up. Amazon, tapping into the physical catalog business right after venturing into the brick-and-mortar sector with its Whole Foods acquisition, bookstores, and other convenience stores, is attempting to be much more than an online retail giant — it wants to be everyone’s go-to, taking the best parts of other stores and digesting them like a true superpowered-superstore.

And when A Holiday of Play hits consumers’ mailboxes, it’ll likely cement Amazon’s status as a holiday staple — just like Toys R Us was back in the day.